gypsy romance

Color. Fabric. I love mixing it, layering it, and seeing how far you can go with it. I'm working on a new project that makes my heart sing and I love the creative high an artist feels in the "birthing" stage of an idea. Ebay is an easy place to find a worldwide collection of things you're looking for... velvet, silks, floral, dots, paisley and so much more. Can't wait to share the end result.

moving on

I scored this Rugby Ralph Lauren tweed bubble skirt on ebay and it's now back for sale (click "my shop" page for details). It's adorable, fun to wear...but our affair is over and time for a new home. 
The boots are Robert Clergerie from Paris and were another amazing find. Original retail would have been $1500+ (seriously; stupid, right?!) but lucky for me I got them at a 1/10 of that. They fit like a dream and I could wear them all day without a problem. 
The jacket is from Open Sky; pleather; but has great lines and design.

the mother win

(from the 2007 archives...)

This has to be one of my favorites. It is a warm, soft, buttery color that you can almost taste on the tip of your tongue with the curves of a big, bosomy woman that you want to hug till there's nothing left to hug...perfection.
She's designed by Ralph Widdicombe, a nephew of John Widdicomb of the Widdicomb Furniture Company. For 50+ years all Widdicomb furniture was designed by Ralph until his retirement in 1951 and Mr. Widdicombe (who always retained the old English spelling of his name ending with an "e") was the first to introduce the United States to the French Provincial designs of furniture....go Ralph!

I bought this from a wonderful ebayer, Bleu Gardenia (bleugardenia), who also had a store I believe in Newport Beach, CA. I had dropped my dear airedale terrier, Zoe, off at a specialized animal hospital to be operated on for hip dysplasia (long story short...she's great today...full of herself and a fool in general) and stopped by the Bleu Gardenia store to collect the piece and travel back to Arizona. The dresser was at the owner's son's home (the views were fabulous...in the hills) and unfortunately she was too long to fit in the back of my Jeep Cherokee. She would have to be sent.

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Shipping furniture is a real drag. It's expensive, takes forever, and you never really know who you're dealing with. In this case, I was lucky. The dresser arrived perfectly, weighs about 200 pounds, and now holds some of my husband's prized possessions of his family history. We call her "mother"...I walk by her everyday and smile...I just want to hug her.

here

Here I am. Many moons ago, when I first started this blog it was going to be all about my experiences on ebay; hence the web address: "everyauctiontellsastory" (and for some reason I didn't think I could just put my name for a web address, right?! told you it was a long time ago...). But then I didn't think I had enough. Or I had too much. Or; a million and one other reasons got in the way; and the name became "Suddenly I See" about life and all that went on in mine.

But it bugged me. It gnawed at me to know that the web address didn't have anything to do with the blog header or the content. What's a girl to do? 

Change it. 

calm.cool.collected is my ebay name. When I first started on ebay in January of 1999,  I had to send (by snail mail) my auction photos to some person in Podunk, USA who would magically "upload" them on their computer and then send me the links to them so I could post the auction with pics...weird. 

So much has changed and I've been there. And I'm still doing it. My "shop" page (in the right hand margin) is now connected to my ebay selling; so you'll know if I have anything selling or not. 

And want to know more about me? Go to the "about" page where I've shared a secret. I feel as if the blogs are all coming together now and have a running thread to them...stay tuned for more adventures.